The President and Masters of the College of William and Mary in Virgina to all, to whome this present writing will come, eternal greetings in the Lord.

Because it was granted and confirmed to us in the Royal Charter, that those who especially adorn themselves with letters and studies, we might honor with Academic degrees. Because we want a renowned, celebrated man to be the first honored wit this degree, who we might declare to be a great example to us and to all Virginia youth; Because Benjamin Franklin Esq has been granted a Masters of the Arts by several American colleges, and indeed has accumulated honors from the Most Christian King [I think this might be wrong, it is slight obscured, but if it is correct it refers to the French King], from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris, from the Royal Society in London, and likewise his fame and glory, on account of his miraculous devised revelations in natural philosophy, has been promulgated through the entire republic of letters, similarly from this whole assembly [this is a conjecture, words obscured,] on the second of the month of April.

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